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Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

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Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#191

Post by officeplant »

woeirua wrote: post #110

Slate was far more compelling when we still had the federal EV incentive. Now... you can get a far better equipped Ford Maverick hybrid just around $30k (maybe less with dealer discounts). Hard to see what the market is for the Slate.

>Hard to see what the market is for the Slate.

Well you quoted a hybrid, which needs fuel. At current local electric rates ($0.07/kw) I can fully charge my E-Transit (~68kwh usable in the battery) for $4.76. Then I can go around 130 miles before coming back home to charge.

Vastly cheaper than a gas van, but lets look at the Maverick which gets even better economy.

Most gas stations I drove by today were $3.15 to $3.39 for 87oct gas. Self reported fuel economy for the Hybrid Ford Maverick on a few sites maxes out around 37mpg combined.

That means for a Slate truck with the larger 84kwh battery you'll be spending $5.90 for a full at home charge in my area which will get you ~240 miles. While if you bought a Maverick you'll be getting around 70 miles for the same cost.

This is all before we even factor in maintenance differences.

EDIT// They dropped the 84kwh battery, but my point still stands.

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#193

Post by rpdillon »

unregistereddev wrote: post #173
roysting wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> still pretty inexpensive Can we stop being so out of touch and/or deluding ourselves to believe $35k is “pretty inexpensive” for people not living in a bubble; whether that is the Americas bubble or the tech bubble within the bubble or the urban bubble within that; let alone for a tiny two seater electric truck that has a 200 mile range. The 45th percentile, i.e., the bottom 90% have a median income of roughly $40,…

I completely agree. A base Prius is $30k. A base Kia Niro is $27k. Those are hybrids and not EV's, but 50+mpg is not bad. Those also come with power windows and many other features and creature comforts that the Slate doesn't. $35k is not outrageous for a new car, but the Slate is supposed to be affordable basic transportation. Slate is selling barebones, stripped down basic transportation for the price of a middle c…

On the flip side, if you want a car that doesn't try to track you and record you, and doesn't upsell you on a subscription for seatwarmers, and doesn't use gas, Slate looks pretty attractive.

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#194

Post by neogodless »

linuxftw wrote: post #53
whycome wrote: post #12

I don’t care that it’s EV. I’m just stoked that they’re making an actually modular system like this. I don’t know why it’s not possible with other cars.

GMC made a modular system for like 50 years, it's called the SBC.

Web search found the "small-block crate" engine as what GM's SBC is. You're saying an engine makes a vehicle modular?

https://kagi.com/search?q=gmc+sbc

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#195

Post by bluGill »

WarmWash wrote: post #75
coldpie wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good criticism. It looks like the car's EV tech is average at best; definitely not outstanding. That's probably why they don't advertise it strongly, and also probably a big factor in why it's so cheap. They list some details on the Specs page[1]. They quote 200 miles of range, which is not great especially for a small car. They list a 20-80 charge time of 30 minutes so it's probably a 400V architecture, which is bec…

It's a fine anything-other-than-5hr+-road-trip car. Which covers 99% of people's daily driving. And frankly even if this thing was gas, it looks brutal to road trip in. A 200mi range means you can comfortably commute an hour to work each day, and then get back and "drive around town" in the evening without any worry.

People buy their vehicles with the 1% use like the 5 hour road trip in mind. The cost of renting a car is high enough that it is cheaper just buy the one you need for everything. That is before you realize that sometimes who show up to pick up your rental car and they don't have anything.

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#196

Post by aidenn0 »

roysting wrote: post #148
alistairSH wrote: post #14

Just built a "hatchback" Slate with what I guess will be common options (speakers, wheel upgrade, spare wheel carrier, and a few other odds and ends) and it came to $35k. So, still pretty inexpensive, but also getting close to some existing EV sedans that are known entities and have pretty decent interiors. So, I'm not totally sold on these, but not not sold either. Need to see one in person, I think.

> still pretty inexpensive Can we stop being so out of touch and/or deluding ourselves to believe $35k is “pretty inexpensive” for people not living in a bubble; whether that is the Americas bubble or the tech bubble within the bubble or the urban bubble within that; let alone for a tiny two seater electric truck that has a 200 mile range. The 45th percentile, i.e., the bottom 90% have a median income of roughly $40,…

In '73 a Chevy Nova just under $2500, which CPI is just under $20k. Median household income was around $12k

$25k is about right for a cheap new car today (you can get a few base models for less than that, but good luck finding one). Median household income is around $83k. So a cheap new car cost went up by 10x but income only went up by less than 5x. Inflation implies it should cost 8x as much, but it costs 10x as much.

Of course the Chevy Nova didn't have ABS, airbags, a touch screen, an automatic transmission, power steering, or retractable seat belts. Car companies could make models without some of these (though most are required by law; can't even have a car without a screen since RVC is mandated). But now they would be competing with used cars that have most, if not all, of these things and cost less.

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#197

Post by baby_souffle »

netsharc wrote: post #154
vablings wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parking garage, a friend's house etc.. You make it work.

Sounds like the vinyls will feel like "Hooray my own kinda car!" but will end up in the storage room with "I'll stick these on later" note in the buyers' heads.

You can order a wrapped professionally from the factory. Depending upon which segment of the body panels it's as cheap as a few hundred bucks all the way up to something like 800 bucks for a full wrap.

I don't think I've ever gone shopping for a car and had the dealer present me with the exact same trim options but color selection was only going to change the MSRP by $800 at most...

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#198

Post by Server6 »

malfist wrote: post #102
jollyllama wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my dad's 90's ford ranger The only reason it takes an EV to get this is CAFE.

The maverick isn't an EV

The Maverick is barley a truck. It's a unibody SUV with a small truck bed. Its built on the Escape/Bronco Sport platform.

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#199

Post by officeplant »

jefb wrote: post #57

Can't believe it's come down to this in 2026, but if this does not beep incessantly and slam on the brakes when maneuvering around some foliage I'm all in.

You can usually disabled the automatic braking in every vehicle I've driven from 2020-2025. I tend to leave on the warning noises, but disable to auto braking.

Re: Slate EV truck starts at $24,950

#200

Post by laweijfmvo »

freedomben wrote: post #177
bitexploder wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The body panels are some sort of composite polycarbonate plastic. They offered a number of colors in the UI for the pre-order system. It basically allows you to configure options that are available and see what it looks like. The wraps are (offered) DIY and they claim it will take two people 14-16 hours. They offer a number of colors that cost $500 right now. Pretty interesting as far as cars go. I think all of the c…

> The wraps are DIY and they claim it will take two people 14-16 hours. Oh man, that is ... a lot labor. I can't imagine many people are going to want to do it

and it will look terrible if you don’t do it properly
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